We are currently in the heart of February! The days are still cold and short. The weather often cannot decide between snow and freezing rain. And overall we feel the pull toward hibernation with the rest of creation. There is a general sleepiness that comes with February, where the luster of early winter has dulled but Spring is still a ways off.
For me personally, February is always a month that tempts me to be complacent. To just wait for Spring to come before I’m active again. It’s easy to want to just hunker down, stay home as much as possible and shut out the rest of the world. And while many of us need to do a better job of getting rest, Jesus never calls us into complacency. Our God is a God of action, of calling the Church into participation with the work of the Holy Spirit throughout our communities.
As we step into the first days of Lent and begin preparing our hearts for the coming celebration of Easter, may we remember that it’s even in these days of preparation that Jesus invites us into walking with him, just as he did with seemingly every person he encountered in his ministry while on this earth. Whether a random encounter with a woman at a well or a tax collector hiding in a tree, Jesus has always called us to WAKE UP to the work he is doing and joining in.
Pastor Ian